Felix Auger-Aliassime heads to Montreal Masters playing for hometown pride

[p]The Canadian returns as second seed to a tournament he attended frequently as a budding young player, when he used to watch and study his sporting idols up close in training between matches.[/p][p]"[b]There were several times when I didn't have a ticket, so I would watch all the training sessions[/b]," he said on Saturday at the event, where he is seeded behind Roland Garros winner and Wimbledon runner-up [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zverev-alexander/dGbUhw9m/"]Alexander Zverev[/a].[/p][p]"[b]I learned even more things during training since they (fans) have the chance to be very, very close to the players[/b]."[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/auger-aliassime-felix/CzXh4LAb/"]Auger-Aliassime[/a] recently split with his longtime coach of 10 years, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fontang-frederic/YHIebeUj/"]Frederic Fontang[/a], after losing a frustrating Wimbledon five-set quarter-final to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Novak Djokovic[/a].[/p][embed guid="e1812234-5c25-4ea6-a062-7ee8ef96f1a6" url="https://x.com/OBNmontreal/status/2081801544622645273?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]He will have the bulk of the crowd support at an event which is missing major stars including top-ranked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik Sinner[/a], who opted not to play in the wake of his Wimbledon triumph to send tournament organizers into crisis mode.[/p][p]Joining the Italian on the sidelines with less than a month to go before the US Open begins are the 39-year-old Djokovic and Spain's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alcaraz-garfia-carlos/UkhgIFEq/"]Carlos Alcaraz[/a], still testing and healing the right wrist injury which has kept him off court since mid-April.[/p][p]Auger-Aliassime's best performance at the Canadian event was a quarter-final four years ago. Last year he lost in the second round.[/p][p]Despite the hometown support, Auger-Aliassime said he will aim to stick to his usual routines and focus solely on his game.[/p][p]"[b]Already, my expectations or hopes are at the same level as the public's. So already, there is no gap at that level,[/b]" he said.[/p][p]"[b]I have my work to do, I have my preparation, I have my routines, so all that doesn't change.[/b][/p][p]"[b]I try to change as few things as possible, even if I'm playing in Montreal. Yes, I'm a bit more in-demand obviously than at other tournaments, but I try to keep my routines.[/b][/p][p]"[b]The brain is used to having its routines. And that helps to program oneself well or to prepare well for the tournament.[/b]"[/p][p]All 32 seeds in the 96-strong field receive first-round byes, with Auger-Aliassime set for the second round against the winner from France's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-assche-luca/nP9K42Bg/"]Luca van Assche[/a] and a qualifier.[/p][p]Top seed Zverev reached the Canadian semi-final in Toronto a year ago.[/p][p]Australian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/de-minaur-alex/EZgZ9Xfh/"]Alex de Minaur[/a] takes the third seeding ahead of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/medvedev-daniil/O8qG0Nhb/"]Daniil Mdevedev[/a] while defending champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shelton-ben/QNuG0Gzb/"]Ben Shelton[/a] is seeded fifth.[/p]